This invention relates to an improvement in lighting structures, especially plate glass lamps and the like. It will be understood that "plate glass" in this specification refers to plate glass, plastic sheets, or any other similar transluscent material which can be used in lamp shades as paneling. In the past, plate glass lamps, such as tiffany style lamps, were difficult to pack and/or move because of their irregular shape and very fragile material. To make matters worse, these lamps could not be disassembled or they could be disassembled but this process involved tedious and delicate screwing and unscrewing of the glass plates. A previous type of lampshade (B) can be seen in FIG. 6. This type of lampshade is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,123,792 by Person et al. The frame B1 of the lampshade has stationary flaps B2 which receive screws to hold a glass plate B3 thereto. However, the person assembling or disassembling the lampshade had to be especially careful not to screw the plate B3 down too tightly or it would crack. Also, since usually these flaps were made of thin metal and were therefore easily bent, so as to complicate assembly. Also, as is obvious from FIG. 6, the number of screws involved could make dissassembling and assembling such a light to be a cumbersome process.
A second type of prior art can be seen in FIGS. 5-A and 5-B. This type is called the "inlay" type (i.e. ref. #A). Of course, the inlay type of lampshade (A) can not be disassembled at all and is hence even more inconvenient to move or to repair than type B. An example of this type of lamp structure can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 912,426 by Sibley.
It is the purpose of this present invention, therefore, to mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks in the manner set forth in the detailed description of the preferred embodiment.